Author's Note: Ha, quick update. Wrote it all in just two sittings, which were on one night. Anyway, the shit has really hit the fan, and so I hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 5: A New Enemy
Nathan heard something land on the ground with a wet yet solid thump behind him. He instinctively ducked, just as a misshapen claw swiped through the air where his head had been just a second before.
The other marines ducked out of the way, rolling across the ground, but Nathan, still in a crouch, brought the butt of his rifle back into the creature's gut. It stumbled backwards, and quickly recovered. It was about to attack again when all the marines opened fire at once. Every single shot hit the target, and it tore chunks of flesh from the creature, spraying its slimy yellowish blood across Nathan's back.
It collapsed, dead. Nathan looked at it. It looked similar to an elite, but its skin was discolored, a dark yellowish brown, with spots that almost looked green. Tentacles sprouted from its hands and head, and there were strange growths across its body.
Just as Nathan was about to comment, another twisted elite jumped from the trees above. It still wore the blue armor from when it had been just another covenant warrior. Nathan trained his rifle on its contorted face, and squeezed the trigger. All three shots hit, but the elite's shields simply flared. Nathan's eyes went wide.
"Kill it," he yelled, just as it jumped into the air. The creature sailed across the distance between them, and was about to crash upon Nathan when Amy stepped in front of him, and fired her shotgun.
The creature caught the full blast, which not only halted its deadly assault and shorted out the shields, but threw it back a few paces, where in landed with a splash in a puddle of murky water. Its chest had been torn apart, snapping the spine and ripping the organs within to shreds.
More of the strange elite creatures emerged from the surrounding woods. Their feral growls grew louder now that their pray was in sight. Nathan raised his rifle, and began to fire. The other marines followed his example.
Jim primed a grenade and threw it into a group of the creatures. When it exploded chunks of flesh flew across the muddy ground. Amy used to shotgun, and the results were amazing. The weapon tore through the monsters with ease, making Nathan wish that he had one.
As the marine fought however, strange bulbous things, carried by small tentacles underneath them scurried from the forest. They approached the marines. Nathan didn't know what they were, but he had no intention of finding out. He fired at one group. When one exploded, the others near it popped as well.
He was about to shoot another group when another elite came at him from behind. He ducked, and the thing went right past him. Nathan grabbed the barrel of his rifle, spun, and smashed the creature across the back of it's head with all his strength.
It stumbled, and Nathan hit it again, then again, until it's shields flared out. It fell to the ground, and Nathan put one boot on its neck, and fired into it's head, which exploded in a gory shower of rotten brains.
Then it jumped up, throwing Nathan backwards a few feet. He landed on his back, and the air was blasted from his lungs. The creature growled, and ran at him, it's claw raised. Nathan rolled out of the way as the organic weapon descended, splashing into the mud. Nathan got to his feet and shouldered the thing in the chest, causing it to fall backwards. He fired into it's chest, and the flesh was torn open, exposing one of the bulbous popping creatures attached to the elite's spine. Nathan blinked, that's how it lived after having it's brains blown out, it was controlled through the spinal column by those creatures. The elite was about to jump up, when Nathan shot the controller, and the elite fell back, dead.
"Aim for the chests," Nathan called out.
He turned back to see that his marines were handling the creatures fairly well. Then he noticed one of the controllers on Sara's back. Nathan immediately brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired a single burst, popping the creature.
"Don't let the little balloon things get on you," Nathan advised.
He turned back to check on Danny, only to see the marine get up, his skin color changed to the brown of the monsters, his head shoved violently to the side to make room for the controller's tentacles. One of his arms was broken, moved aside for a tentacle.
"Mother fucker," Nathan cried out.
Hank looked over to see the wounded marine had become one of the enemies. He raised his own rifle, and fired a few bursts at Danny's chest. Since Danny didn't have shields he was easier to kill. The ex-marine fell backwards, his body now torn apart both by the creatures and bullets.
Another elite came out of the forest, and began to fire a plasma rifle. Blue bolts shot towards Jim, who swore, and jumped out of the way. One bolt missed Sara's head by less than an inch, and it blackened her helmet. The elite fired at Jim who submerged himself in a puddle. The bolts sizzled on the water's surface, and Jim was unharmed.
Amy ran up beside the thing, and aimed her shotgun at the elite's chest. She fired, and the gun clicked empty.
"Fuck," she yelled, reaching into a pocket for a spare shell. But the elite didn't want to give her a chance. It turned towards her. A burst from Nathan's and Hank's battle rifles caused it to look at them and fire a few bolts, before turning back to Amy, just as she slipped a single shell into the shotgun.
She was pumping it as the creature charged forward. Her finger slipped into the trigger guard as the creature's tentacle reached for her face. She squeezed the trigger, and the blast echoed through the small clearing. The elite was thrown back, dead.
Nathan looked around, there were no more elites. He saw a one of the balloon things, and watched it climb in Danny's destroyed chest. It's tentacles wrapped around his spine, and suddenly the body jerked to life again. With a roar Danny got his feet.
"Just die," Sara yelled out, and fired at the controller in Danny's chest. It popped, and Danny again fell dead.
The swamp was again bathed in silence. The marines stood stock still, not moving, but still scanning through the trees with nervous eyes. There had to be more of those things out there.
Then just in front of them, a rustling came from the foliage. Everyone in the squad trained their weapons on the bushes. They calmed down though when Mike walked through, SMG in hand, and with Wesley just in front of him.
The two looked around the small battlefield with looks of shock. Mike blinked when he saw Danny's corpse, mutilated and disfigured, but he quickly collected himself, again putting his cold mask on. Wesley though could not mask his surprise.
"You killed them all?" Wesley said.
"Yeah, that's what we're paid for," Jim said, but Nathan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. There was something about the way that Wesley said those words that didn't sit right with him.
"But, how? This is the perfect form of a killing machine," Wesley said.
Sara dropped her battle rifle, pulled her pistol from it's holster, took a full three steps up to Wesley, grabbed him by the front of his uniform, and shoved him against a tree, then shoved her sidearm up under his chin. The other marines didn't do anything to stop her.
"I told you not to fuck with me," she said, pushing the weapon harder against his skin. Wesley's face was locked in a grimace, his eyes shut tight. Nathan put a hand on Sara's shoulder, and she eased up on the pressure of her weapon. Wesley opened his eyes, then he arrogant smirk came back into place.
"You can't do anything to me, or you'll be considered a traitor to the UNSC," Wesley said, with a small laugh.
Sara punched him in the face. Wesley let out a whelp, bringing his hands to cup his nose. He fell to the ground, but Sara grabbed him again, wrenched him to his feet, and held the gun under his chin again. Wesley looked at her in shock, blood running freely from his nose.
"I guess ass fucks like you do bleed like the rest of us. Good, makes it easier to blow you're asses away," Sara said.
"You… you'll be hanged for this," Wesley said.
Sara spat on the ground. Wesley looked at the other marines for help, but no matter who he turned to, he could see nothing but a smoldering hatred.
"What are these things you sneaky little prick," Sara said, tapping his throat with her pistol to remind him it was there still.
"I can't tell you, that's classified information," Wesley said.
"Who gives a flying fuck. You're going to tell me, or you'll join them in hell. Do I make myself clear," Sara said, pressing her weapon harder against his flesh again.
Wesley swallowed, and wiped some of the blood from his face. He looked around the group again, but still none of them was going to come to his rescue.
"They're called the Flood. It's an infectious parasite that Spartan 117 discovered on the original Halo. They can take over their victim's bodies, using them as their soldiers. They have a rudimentary intelligence. They can use weapons, drive vehicles, but they also very strong, able to rip a man apart with its hands. No one is sure what drives them, but they are the reason that I came down here, to study them first hand," Wesley explained.
Sara let out a laugh of disbelief at the man's stupidity, and arrogance.
"You son of a bitch," she said, then she punched him in the gut. Wesley grunted, and doubled over, then he threw up. Sara grabbed the piece of his uniform just at the scruff of his neck and threw him into the muddy ground.
"Can you believe this asshole," Sara said.
A growl from a Flood warrior echoed through the swamp. The marines immediately went on the alert. As they were looking for the flood, they didn't notice Wesley get to his feet, and draw his own pistol. He aimed it at the back of Sara's neck, the area where her helmet didn't cover. He fired a single shot, which flew straight and true.
Sara's throat exploded in a shower of arterial spray. Wesley immediately ran into the forest. Amy was at Sara's side in an instant, a med kit open, trying to stop the horrendous bleeding with biofoam, but it was useless. Sara was dead in just a few seconds.
"I'll kill you, you mother fucker," Amy called after Wesley.
Mike was about to run after him again, but Nathan grabbed him by the arm, and pointed at the motion sensor on Sara's hip. The surviving marines looked at it and saw the mass of red dots approaching them.
"We have to get out of here," Jim said.
"Lets go marines, grab Sara's ammo, and motion sensor, then we go, as fast as we can," Nathan commanded. He didn't like to loot marine corpses, especially those under his command, and he really didn't like leaving a corpse behind, but he had no choice.
"Drop a grenade by her body, we don't want the flood to use her," Nathan commanded when the corpse had been looted, remembering Danny.
Jim nodded grimly, all his jokes long gone. Hank primed a grenade, and dropped it beside Sara. Then the five marines ran into the forest of the swamps. Behind them there was a dull explosion, softened by the mass of trees, shrubs and vines, but they could all see in their mind's eye Sara's body torn apart by the explosion, but they kept running.
